I had to help my daughter get a good criminal lawyer when her ex got her arrested for child abuse and neglect. This was completely unfair and blown out of proportion, but that's what usually happens in messy custody disputes. Maybe if my daughter had asked her mother to watch her son while she ran errands instead of locking him in the house by himself without a sitter, this might not have happened. Either way, my daughter is not neglectful--my grandson is just a mischevious boy who needs constant supervision. Apparently, he got bored and was seen by the neighbor climbing down the tree next to his 2nd story bedroom window. My grandson fell and suffered a twisted ankle, which was enough for his father to accuse my daughter of being a neglectful and abusive mother for leaving him all by himself in the house.
My wife did some research and found Dan Smith of DS Criminal Law Group in Los Angeles. It turns out he's a former prosecutor who specializes in defending DUI and criminal cases, which I feel makes him an ideal defense lawyer for anybody looking to get the charges dropped. My daughter got a consultation from him and at least 2 other lawyers, but decided on him since he has such a great track record. He was also better at asking my daughter about all the details of the incident, explaining that he needed to explore every angle to defend her properly. In the end, she felt very comfortable with him because she felt that he really listened during the consultation. It seems like small thing, but can you trust a lawyer to defend you when they don't care enough to ask you everything that happened?
He made sure my daughter was prepared, and got the neighbors who saw my grandson climbing down to testify for my daughter. He also got my former son in law's brother to promise to testify for my daughter, which convinced the prosecutor to dismiss the child abuse and neglect charges. Now he can't use this incident against my daughter, and she it looks like she will maintain primary physical custody of my grandson.
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